November 9th, 2009
Run with Moe: Burgess finishes second at state meet

Run with Moe: A column
By MOE JOHNSON
San Marcos Runners Club

When it comes to success in athletics, it often comes to the athletes that work the hardest and dedicate their efforts to being the best that they can be.

One such woman here in San Marcos is Olivia Burgess, who gathered in a second place finish at the NPC Texas State Fitness and Bodybuilding Championships in Houston. The meet was the largest meet in the history of NPC Championships ever held in Texas, with more than 200 contestants competing for titles. The meet is a natural, or drug free, meet so contestants are screened for drug use.

To manage a second place finish was a very hard earned award. Burgess’s finish in this nationally ranked contest allows her to compete in other high quality NPC meets such as the Junior USA, Junior Nationals and the NPC Nationals. Her goal is to place in the NPC National meet next year.

Burgess’s next meet is in three weeks in Las Vegas for a Ms. Fitness America competition. The story behind Olivia’s success is relatively short in the arena of fitness and bodybuilding.  She hails from El Campo and was always active in exercise. She loved to run and try new activities. With this in mind, she ran a marathon in 2007, has taken Tae Kwan Do classes and even lifted weights.

Her experience with lifting weights was an off and on again exercise. When she lifted weights, she said some people would offer negative comments on how muscular her arms became and, because she was a little self-conscious, she would quit lifting. When she began working out at the San Marcos Athletic Club, she received some positive reinforcement about her figure and her hard work ethic.

Bobby Warren, owner of the San Marcos Athletic Club, encouraged her to try bodybuilding and fitness competition. She started training in January of 2008 and since then has entered five contests and placed in all of them, with the second place finish her best effort.

Burgess is outstanding in other areas, also. She graduated from Texas State with a degree in English with a 4.0 GPA and is going to finish her doctorate in May, when she finishes her dissertation. She has maintained a 4.0 GPA through her college courses, her master’s degree and now in her doctorate level courses.

Lifters down at SMAC often ask her how she can work out so hard. She replies, “I really don’t work that hard. I enjoy lifting and it is not work when you are having fun.”

Burgess mentioned that the diet portion of the routine is the hardest part. She has been on a strict only healthy food regime since June of this year because of the contests. The diet portion has become part of her lifestyle now and she finds that when she eats healthy she has so much more energy that she really looks forward to going to the gym for a workout.

On the days she takes a break from the diet and eats a pizza or fast food, she said it leaves her feeling sluggish and not with the energy she needs to work as hard and dedicated as the competition demands.

Warren, her coach and trainer, has trained numerous national, state and collegiate champions in weightlifting and bodybuilding competitions. He said, “Olivia is one of the top individuals I have trained and is also one of the most dedicated and hardest working competitors I have seen.”

Burgess will continue her education by going for a master’s degree in exercise and sports science at Texas State to complement her doctorate in English. She is a personal trainer and she figures the extra degree will help her give clients a good program to follow.

Because she is a bodybuilder, a runner and a fitness competitor, she has a wide variety of programs to give to anyone that is unfamiliar with training programs an option of what path they should follow.  She can be contacted by calling the San Marcos Athletic Club at (512) 392-0098, and she will get in contact with you if you are interested in having her as a personal trainer.